In order to continually improve physical standards of living for greater number of people, it is necessary to achieve more results with fewer resources. Therefore there is the tendency towards building and manufacturing smaller-scale products due to the desire for size efficiency. Most recently, scientists have learned that not only electronic devices, but also mechanical devices, may be miniaturized and batch-fabricated, promising the same benefits to the mechanical world as integrated circuit technology has given to the electronic world.
Saccharide epimerisation reactions are well known and it is in particular known that glucose may be epimerised to give an equilibrium mixture of glucose and mannose by means of a molybdenum catalyst. The earliest reference to this reaction is by V. Bilik in Chem. Zvesti, 26, 183-186 (1972) while U.S. Pat. No. 4,029,878, published 14 Jun. 1977, contains a description of a process using the catalytic reaction. Examples of suitable molybdenum catalysts given in U.S. Pat. No. 4,029,878 include molybdic acid, isopolymolybdic acids, heteropolymolybdic acids and acid salts such as sodium phosphomolybdate and silicomolybdic acid. This patent also describes the possibility of using as catalyst an anion exchange resin in which the hydroxyl ions have been replaced by molybdate ions.
A later Japanese patent JP 55076894 discloses the use of molybdate immobilised on anion exchange fibers. When activity of the molybdate-anion exchange fibre conjugate diminishes, the epimerisation process is stopped and the exhausted catalysator is leached off with alkali. Immobilisation of fresh molybdic acid on the original anion exchange fibre ensures a new active molybdate-anion exchange fiber conjugate.
European Patent 0 400 641 B1 also describes the use of molybdate exchanged anion exchange resin for epimerisation purposes. In this patent operation parameters are chosen in such a way that a minimal amount of bound molybdenum is leached out during epimerisation.
EP 0 710 501 describes the catalyst regeneration of a supported molybdenum catalyst.
Kockritz describes in Applied Catalysis A: General 334 (2008) pages 112-118, a rearrangement of glucose to mannose catalysed by polymer-supported molybdenum catalysts in the liquid phase.
Japanese patent publication (JP 4-368347, published 21 Dec. 1992) describes the use of a supported catalyst on a macroporous, strongly basic anion exchange resin.
In general, the benefits of miniaturized systems have been recognized but there is still a need for further developing the use of these systems in reactions for epimerization reactions and/or oligomerisation of saccharides.